Nairobi — People masquerading as Mau forest evictees are still trickling into transitional camps even after the completion of a profiling exercise by the government.

The exercise, Rift Valley PC Osman Warfa said on Tuesday, established that there were 2,934 households, which had illegally joined evictees at the nine camps.

"Some of them were land speculators and others had come from neighbouring markets expecting to get compensation. But we have forced them out of the camps," Mr Warfa, who coordinated the profiling, told the Nation during a telephone interview.

According to him, the government decided to profile the evictees after people from neighbouring villages and markets started walking into the camps.

Initially, the PC said, the nine camps had 5,784 households, but upon the completion of the profiling last week, it was established that only 2,850 were genuine evictees.

Meanwhile, a Kenya Forest Service officer on Tuesday claimed that he witnessed a big number of people from neighbouring markets coming to the camps with their belongings two days ago.

"The population at the camps has shot up in the last two days as people are expecting to get the Sh35,000 compensation promised by the government," the officer, who declined to be named, said.

At the same time, the PC said he was not aware if the forest evictees will be compensated or resettled. He also denied claims that the provincial administration had pilfered money meant for the evictees.

Instead, the administrator blamed the Interim Coordinating Secretariat on the Mau and the Ministry of Special Programmes for failing to provide sufficient information on the ground.

"We have not seen any money here," he said.

Mr Hassan Noor Hassan, who is leading the secretariat was not available for comment, but an official from the Special Programme's ministry said he was not aware about any money being given to the forest evictees.